By Robin Yassin-Kassab
Assad lost the war he provoked. By September 2015, when the Russian
bombing started, his depleted army held less than a fifth of the country.
He calculated correctly, however, that powerful friends would come to
his aid. When Russia arrived it employed the usual excuse - the "war on
terror", in this case on ISIL, also known as ISIS - but less than 20
percent of its bombs fell anywhere near ISIL. Instead, its planes
focused relentlessly on eviscerating the Free Syrian Army, as well as
the civilian infrastructure in liberated areas. They burned schools,
hospitals and markets. They dropped cluster munitions, incendiary bombs
and bunker busters - banned in civilian areas - on residential blocks.
These, too, are war crimes.
full:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/12/palestinisation-syrian-people-161217083427475.html